Cabo de la Vela, Punta Gallina, La Guajira Desert

It took 4 bus rides, 2 dodgy taxis and almost 18 hours to get here.  But it feels more than a world away from the sophisticated walls of old Cartagena.  The most north easterly point of the country (and also of South America), Punta Gallina is no man’s land on crack. 

After landing in Uribia, you take a 4x4 taxi for around 1.5 hours (or 3 if the guy wants to visit friends) to Cabo de la Vela, the village the world forgot.  This is Wayuu land - one of the indigenous populations of Cartagena - and it’s as far from the Coffee Region, Medellin and Bogota as you could imagine. Arid, bleak and basic, for the first time I really feel like I’m in the wilds of Colombia. 

Cabo is ‘quite popular’ as a backpacker and kitefsurfer destination (there were 7 other foreigners there), but not that many make the additional leap to Punta Gallina - another couple of hours and short boat ride away.  Do.  It’s worth it.  The sand is finer, more golden.  The birdlife is enough to turn anyone into a twitcher.  You can really touch the stars from here.  You can also eat fresh lobster every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  In fact, there isn’t really anything else to eat.  Sprinting down sand dunes that dip right into the waves was a highlight.  Struggling up said sand dune in the midday heat with no prospect of a swim at the end, not so much.  But after all that lobster, I probably needed the workout. 

Oh, I also learned (finally) how to sleep comfortably in a hammock (a large hammock, known as a chinchorro.  The key is to lie diagonally, if you want to know.